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KAMLOOPS — For someone who arrived back in his training camp dorm at 2:30 a.m., caught some winks, showered and shaved and went to church, all before noon, Richie Leone was turned out as well as any B.C. Lion on Sunday.

“I’m just the kicker. I didn’t have to do much. I’m not that tired, right?” explained Leone. “I mean, I’m not tired, other than the fact we got to bed at 4 a.m.”

In spite of his humility, the second-year punter/kicker has never looked more valuable to his team. He booted four field goals and punted seven times for a whopping average of 51.0 yards Saturday night in a 28-16 Canadian Football League pre-season victory against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

There are other areas of the Lions operation which still need to find much polish, synchronicity and competence before this becomes a complete football team. But the kicking game isn’t one of them. Leone, his new holder, Travis Lulay, and long snapper Mike Benson look to be in midseason form.

“We settled in after the first two or three days of camp,” Benson explained. “Richie is always a calm, collected guy. He was that way last year, too. But this is his second training camp. He’s feeling better about himself. He’s used to me as his snapper. He’s used to kicking up in Canada. It’s a lot easier the second time around.”

Kicking in Canadian football comes with its many quirks — climactic, atmospheric and just plain bizarre. While Leone was lights out in Regina, so was the power. A more than one hour blackout — resulting from an errant confetti cannon that disrupted power lines — delayed the start of the second half and had the Lions winging home on their charter flight at an ungodly hour. But lack of sleep was the least of Wally Buono’s concerns.

“It may have been a dress rehearsal, but there shouldn’t have been as many mistakes as there were,” explained the head coach. “To have nine penalties on offence? That’s ridiculous. We need to fix that. There are a lot of things we need to improve on. But our special teams were spectacular … Richie’s punting, his four field goals. That part of our special teams play was outstanding. I believe we won the game on defence and on special teams.”

Leone, a three-time Ray Guy Award semi-finalist at the University of Houston, is turning the notion that the punter is the least appreciated man in the game on its head. His majestic, soaring punts can leave one spellbound. And he’s a difference maker, leaving observers of the game wondering if he’s just as valuable as a sideline-to-sideline linebacker or punishing power back.

Tall, long-limbed and limber — like Guy, the greatest punter ever — Leone was named to the All-CFL team in his rookie season last year. He flirted with the league record average of 50.6 yards, held by former Winnipeg punter Jon Ryan, now with the Seattle Seahawks.

“It’s (Ryan’s record) a pretty monstrous number,” Leone concedes. “Good for him. That’s something we need to aspire to. But an important stat we’re stressing this year is net punting. We want to go for the net (yards) record. First of all, I need to find out what that is.”

As well, his off-season work to improve his kicking game should have people celebrating his successes, rather than dwelling on the failures of last year.

When Leone joined the Lions in 2015, he was only a month removed from his release by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who used him strictly as a punter. Without the groundwork behind him, kicking duties were added to his responsibilities when the Lions released veteran Paul McCallum in the first week of camp. Leone struggled with the expanded convert placement from 32 yards away — he missed nine attempts — and the erosion of his confidence spilled over to his field-goal kicking as summer turned to fall. Backup Anthony Fera replaced him for game No. 18.

“When I came up here last year, I had not kicked a field goal in training,” Leone admitted. “So, this off-season, I put together a plan. I trained with Justin Medlock (Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker). I worked with Don (Sweet, the Lions’ kicking consultant). I put together a good mentality. I just feel more comfortable now.”

His sailing 48-yard field goal — the longest of the four against the Roughriders — was a chest-thumping moment for one of the least self-aggrandizing of Lions.

“It was just nice to see and feel the work I put in in the off-season,” Leone said.

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